Check Return Policies If Shopping For Christmas Early

This tip is regarding returns to stores. If you are like me you like to shop early for Christmas. I went into a shop at the end of October to purchase a gift for my sister-in-law. I just happened to think and ask about their return policy. They said 30 days. I told them that this was to be a Christmas gift, which would be longer than 30 days before I gave it.

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What if she couldn't wear it? They told me that would just be to bad. No returns 30 days after the receipt. Even if it was unworn, all tags still attached and in the exact same bag as I left with. NO deal. I walked out of that store empty handed.

Most places at least offer a gift receipt so the recipient can return it if need be. Be aware of strange policies. You might get stuck with something no one can wear.

I also have done early Christmas shopping. Last week when I bought some clothes for Christmas gifts at J.C.Penny I told the cleck the items were for Cristmas gifts and what would happen if the items did not fit and they had to be returned.

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She said no problem I will give you a gift return slip which she did along with my purchase receipts. L.L.Bean also gave me gift return receipts.

I wanted to give everyone a heads up that if you tend to give gift cards around the holidays, you need to be careful that the cards will be honored after the holidays. Stores that are planning to close after Christmas are still selling the cards through the holidays even though the cards will be worthless January 1. There is no law preventing them from doing this. On the contrary, it is referred to as 'Bankrupcy Planning). Below is a partial list of stores that you need to be cautious about.

Eddie Bauer to close stores 27 stores and more after January Cache will close all stores Talbots closing down specialty stores J. Jill closing all stores (owned by Talbots) Pacific Sunwear (also owned by Talbots) GAP closing 85 stores Footlocker closing 140 stores mo re to close after January Wickes Furniture closing down Levitz closing down remaining stores Bombay closing remaining stores Zales closing down 82 stores and 105 after January Whitehall closing all stores Piercing Pagoda closing all stores Disney closing 98 stores and will close more after January. Home Depot closing 15 stores 1 in NJ ( New Brunswick ) Macys to close 9 stores after January Linens and Things closing all stores Movie Galley Closing all stores Pep Boys Closing 33 stores Sprint/Nextel closing 133 stores

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JC Penney closing a number of stores after January Ethan Allen closing down 12 stores. Wilson Leather closing down all stores Sharper Image closing down all stor~s K B Toys closing 356 stores Loews to close down some stores Dillard's to close some stores

Also, some of the shopping channels such as ShopNBC, QVC and HSN have return policies until 1/31/09. I've found a lot of great bargains there and this return policy even works with Clearance (which is where I shop).